My first interior-only moc and my entry to the Persuasion challenge for the LOM anniversary UC

About this creation

The warmth and comfort of a place is only desired until one has stayed there for a few days. Indeed, any unchanging state of being is not welcome for long; change is needed in life, and boredom or overexcitement can be unpleasant for long periods of time.

Filberth was at first not too disappointed when he was asked to stay in the Blue Shield Inn for longer than he expected. It was understandable, there were good reasons: the blizzard outside was dangerous; there was no way he could continue his search for his brother in such weather. And there was no way Darden could continue his journey - wherever might be going - during these conditions, either.

But the warmth of the tavern grew unbearable. The peace was like a biting insect, trying to convince him to keep moving; yet Filberth could not. It was as if the door was nonexistent: the innkeeper would let nobody out, no matter what they did.

A month passed by. No change, as far as Filberth could tell. But the blizzard had finally ended, he knew - winter itself was ending, after all. Darden was clearly intent upon his journey- he would have left the instant the harsh weather abated.

It was time to take matters into his own hands.

Filberth confronted the innkeeper at an empty table. "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" It would do no good to make the innkeeper angry; better to try to soften him up.

"Nice indeed - if you come from Bodus Minor," was the innkeeper's reply. Clearly, he was as stubborn as before: just asking wouldn't be enough to be allowed to leave.

"I may not be from Bodus. But the weather is not unusual for this area. The blizzard has stopped, winter is ending, birds are chirping, flowers blooming. You really think its all that dangerous?"

"Flowers? Birds? Not here, in the land of endless winter." The innkeeper's words were calm.

"You just said it yourself - it's not going to get any better. The snow is ceased, for now, and the temperatures seem about average for this area. At the very least, it's not worse than usual."

"Perhaps, but that's no reason to leave right now. It's not just the weather that's dangerous. We've heard rumors of many troll sightings here."

"Rumors indeed. I see no reason to believe what I don't see. They reported the same rumors at a tavern south of here, yet the rumors were false, from what I could tell. I neither encountered nor saw any trolls on my journey here."

"Are you that much of a fool to take your chances against what sounds to be a whole tribe of vicious trolls?" the innkeeper replied harshly. His voice was rising, his temper flaring. It was clear that it would be impossible to avoid anger.

Filberth did not try to soften his words this time. "I could kill you with my bare hands right now, if I wanted to! You doubt my skills as a warrior?"

The innkeeper was quiet, yet his words carried a threatening flavor. "Perhaps you could....but you wouldn't make it far. The Boss would catch up to you - he always does."

Filberth was confused. "I don't know who this "Boss" you speak of is, but I must question your motives. Are you really willing to let an innocent man die, just to keep me in here?"

It was the innkeeper's turn to be puzzled. "Who is this that you speak of?"

"My brother, Darden, has been going north, for reasons I know not. I am trying to pursue him, to bring him back home, to protect him. You see, he's not a very strong man, compared to me - if he encounters any trolls, he's a dead man. I must save him."

"Darden, Darden...." The innkeeper mulled over the word. "Wait a minute - you wouldn't happen to be Filberth, would you?"

"I am indeed."

"Seems I have specific orders from The Boss for you. You're to remain here until he arrives. It seems that The Boss is pretty eager to meet you! Then again, I wouldn't be too optimistic as to the motive behind his instructions. After all, I believe the last person he talked to personally ended up with a dagger in his throat."

"Why would you work for such a man?" Filberth was horrified. "What could you possibly want with him?"

"My friend, perhaps someday you will understand that you cannot choose your superiors. Sometimes, they choose you - if you know what I mean."

"Even so - you had a choice as to whether or not to work for him. You'd really agree to work with a murderer?"

"Would you try to argue with a man who is threatening to murder your family?" It was the innkeeper's turn to grow emotional. "I had no choice. Either work for him, or see my wife and children, dead."

Filberth was stunned. "You don't have to continue like this, living a life of fear. Mythron is a big country. Go south, somewhere where The Boss won't find you. There's no way he's omniscient - change your names, do anything to find safety.

"I may be busy at the moment - but I can assure you, if you let me go, I will do my best to help you."

The innkeeper, in tears, nodded. Filbert walked out the door with the sun rising to his left.

_____________________________________

Well, this was an interesting build. It was very much inspired by Gilbert Despathen's Black Knight Tavern; nevertheless, I did my best to make this as original as I could with some different layout and techniques, and I think it turned out quite well. This also holds the record for being one of my most piece intensive builds, too - aside from using just about every brown tile I own, there's also the greebly stone walls, the complex window arches, the cheese rug,... Nonetheless, I quite like it. It was nice to build something smaller for a change; sure, it's fun to make giant 40x70mocs, but building smaller things like this allows me to use some more piece intensive techniques (again, those arches and stone walls) and develop some new designs (those arches...again).

In terms of story, I got to return to the current happenings in Meids (finally) and introduce a couple of new characters - the innkeeper (not sure if he'll return) and The Boss.

I got a little overexcited when photographing this, so here's a few extra story photos that didn't quite fit and some general overall views:

The 1/2 plate offset returns! Also note the flower here - they're maybe a bit tricky to see in some of the other pictures.

This photo nicely shows the other interesting technique in this build: the window arches. I ran out of 1x4 arches pretty quickly, so I made this custom design with lots of SNOT, cheese, and brackets.

Cheese rug.

The strangely familiar table. Only my second interior and I'm already stealing my own designs - the above rug is also a repeat from that build.

Hooray for cheese mosaics! Hopefully the dragon design is recognizable. It's also notable that it's not just cheese here - there's also some plates and tiles to get some finer shaping.

Thanks for the critique! The only color of cheese that I have a lot of is olive green, so I had to use it. I guess regular blue would be better instead of dark, though. For the multicolored tile floor, I agree it's chaotic...but piece restrictions. The endpoints of the wood boards are because of running out of all brown tiles other than 1x6.
As to the panels... Some of those are 1x2x1 panels which aren't held in place...but I didn't think of those until the last few, and I couldn't use them for any others due to a lack of 1x1 brown bricks that need to be next to them. And the rest of the panels aren't loose because I actually already had trouble with them starting to fall apart, even when they were (loosely) attached.
And the technic pins behind the banner are supposed to be seen - they're little cross details (or something like that) on the wall.
To address both your points about the banners/slopes and the stairs...I did it to add variation, otherwise the scene was way too repetitive. Maybe it would be better with shields instead of the banners, but I'm low in shields (I don't have a whole lot of castle sets) and I happen to have quite a few of these banners. Thanks again!

I'm starting to think that it would be really cool if we could do an in-depth collaborative sometime - we both seem to help each other and catch each others' mistakes, and we're both Castle builders. It sounds like the recipe for a good team... if only there weren't so many LOM challenges getting in the way and if only my faction wasn't busy beating yours into the ground... Anyway, I gave a joking review of this earlier, but I haven't mentioned the important parts (or the nitpicky details that caught my eye, either).

Quoting the Review of the Floor

Your dragon looks at least as good as mine, with a more refined shape and a more-centered position on its mosaic. My only complaints on it are that you used an old stone grey tile and that the underside of the tail is a little flat... but those are hardly important in the grand scheme of the MOC. The rest of your floor, however, has a series of issues. The coloring on the hearth rug seems garish to me, and it doesn't go with anything else in the room. On your multicolored-flagstone section, there are several problems: the combination of two greys and two tans is a little much and the texture is far too flat and regular in comparison to the walls. The pattern would work in another situation, like a clean-cut building with a floor with a regular tile pattern, but in this room, where it randomly appears as a middle ground between light-grey-stone and wooden flooring, it doesn't fit. Speaking of the wooden flooring, try to alternate end-points of your planks; you do this in the picture with the cheese rug, but the picture above it shows a section where five planks all meet their partners in the same row.

Quoting Review of the Lower Walls

At first I thought that the slope bricks that overlap the floor were there to add roughness to the wall - that sort of trick is good for the outsides of walls, but not the insides (especially over wood). Looking again, I can see what you were doing - the slopes, the banners and the fancy work at the top was all part of an effort to give the wall some refinement. That makes sense for a castle or a building belonging to the crown, but not in some common inn... at least to me. Even if it were a high-class tavern, it's more like a government to shove in a few details to convey significance and make the rest of the wall out of the rubble-and-mortar mix with all of those delicious greebles. In short, if you had changed the ornate stonework and alternated banners with homelier decorations it would have been more realistic.

Quoting Review of the Upper Walls

On the whole, the white-and-tan sections and the woodwork are the best parts of the MOC. The texturing and the offsets are great, and both the flowers and the custom window arches are excellent. I was dubious of the arches you used at the top to begin with because of my past experiences with hollow undersides, but, since they looked good in the pictures, I have nothing against their use. I seem to recall that you had a picture of the wild exterior earlier, with all of its Technic connections - an impressive and praiseworthy design, but it made me wonder why you didn't let some of your panels "float" in their frames to save parts and effort. They still stand up - honest! (Plus, those banners didn't actually hide the Technic pins behind them, anyway)

Quoting Miscellaneous Wrap-Up

Four more critiqu... well, criticisms - but only because I trust you to know what you did well already. First and least, I think the upstairs door over the balcony could have used a wooden cross-bar a little distance over it - there was a line of connection under the windows, so I think it makes sense for there to be one over the door, too. Next, the fireplace and the NPU table don't work for me - the legs usually go all the way under the tabletop, in my world. Finally, it would have been best had you avoided the stairs and their door altogether and excused their absence as part of the limits of the scene... or at least moved the stair over to the other balcony. There - my fussy commenting is done. Good luck with the judges, because I don't know if I can score this any more than I can score one of my own after the unnecessarily-close scrutiny I've given it.

Quoting Andrew the Jedi Ninja
Nice! I like how you have so many textures in your builds. The snotted rug and dragon are nice (yes, I did see the dragon!). The floor is also quite nice with all the various colors.

Quoting Professor B.
Despite it looking very very much like Gilbert's, I must say you did a fantastic job. Great detail everywhere! I'm really loving that dragon mosaic! It took my 5 seconds to recognize it, but once I did... I was pretty impressed (even though you got it from Gilbert)! BTW: I looked at some of your oldest creations a couple minutes ago... you've defiantly improved a lot! :D

Thanks! (and the mosaic, other than in idea, is actually quite different from Gilbert's...his portrays a more active dragon whereas mine is more calm as if it's resting (to reflect the calmness and static environment in the inn). And yeah, I have improved a lot over the years :P

Despite it looking very very much like Gilbert's, I must say you did a fantastic job. Great detail everywhere! I'm really loving that dragon mosaic! It took my 5 seconds to recognize it, but once I did... I was pretty impressed (even though you got it from Gilbert)! BTW: I looked at some of your oldest creations a couple minutes ago... you've defiantly improved a lot! :D

Quoting Armon Russ
Excellent build. And yeah, it does look very Gilbert'ish'. :P First off, I love the stone textures, the walls, and the floor pattern. Cheese rug looks great as usual. But that dragon mosaic . . . I'm not seeing it. It just looks like a scatter of bley and dark bley cheese to me. : The tables look nice, though I think the one from your TT Round 3 build could use some regular 1x1 bricks under those clip pieces, instead of the cylinders. The corners just stick out too much. However, I'm liking the stools. About the stairs . . . they would've looked more natural if you built supports at the end of each step that touched the ground. And yeah, I'm with Mr. Cab about those 2x2 tan corner plates. They look too repetitive. :P Overall, awesome build.
Time to rant on your story! ;D Eh, I agree with Kai. I mean, really, a little old innkeeper can hold a bunch of people? If Filberth honestly wanted to find his brother, he could've ditched the guy a while ago. But I guess the blizzard IS the main reason he has to stay, even if the innkeeper seems like a flimsy side reason. :P Well, 'The Boss' seems like a big guy. Hope he'll be a nice addition to your story.

Thanks Armon. Hm, you might have to look at it funny, but the dragon is pretty accurate to the picture I based it off of... As to the table, I agree...but I ran out of brown 1x1 bricks - the timber technique for the walls needs tons of them. Interesting point about the stairs. Not entirely sure if I agree, but I see what you mean. As to the story - you said it yourself - he was delayed by the blizzard; the innkeeper wasn't an issue until this day. Thanks for all the advice!

Excellent build. And yeah, it does look very Gilbert'ish'. :P First off, I love the stone textures, the walls, and the floor pattern. Cheese rug looks great as usual. But that dragon mosaic . . . I'm not seeing it. It just looks like a scatter of bley and dark bley cheese to me. : The tables look nice, though I think the one from your TT Round 3 build could use some regular 1x1 bricks under those clip pieces, instead of the cylinders. The corners just stick out too much. However, I'm liking the stools. About the stairs . . . they would've looked more natural if you built supports at the end of each step that touched the ground. And yeah, I'm with Mr. Cab about those 2x2 tan corner plates. They look too repetitive. :P Overall, awesome build.
Time to rant on your story! ;D Eh, I agree with Kai. I mean, really, a little old innkeeper can hold a bunch of people? If Filberth honestly wanted to find his brother, he could've ditched the guy a while ago. But I guess the blizzard IS the main reason he has to stay, even if the innkeeper seems like a flimsy side reason. :P Well, 'The Boss' seems like a big guy. Hope he'll be a nice addition to your story.

Well, why was the innkeeper holding them there for so long in the first place? It should be their choice to stay or go. And once he found out it was Filberth, why was he even more adamant? Who's this boss and why does he want Filberth? What's up with the threats? That sort of thing. :P

The answer to all of the questions is....I needed to introduce The Boss as the new main villain in my storyline, and bringing up all these questions is a good way to introduce his aura of mystery. As to why he did all of that...let's just say he's connected to the Darden storyline...

Well, why was the innkeeper holding them there for so long in the first place? It should be their choice to stay or go. And once he found out it was Filberth, why was he even more adamant? Who's this boss and why does he want Filberth? What's up with the threats? That sort of thing. :P

Quoting Mr. Cab
Since everyone is already giving you all sorts of nitpicky comments with the tiniest mistakes and tips for improvements, I thought I might mention something...
http://www.mocpages.com/image_zoom.php?mocid=384325&id=/user_images/84200/1395611228m
In this picture, right under the white flowers in the wall, you can see a tan 2x2 corner plate in the whitewash oriented the same way in three different sections. :P I just think that having at least one of them (I'd suggest the middle one) oriented differently would break it up a bit. I also think the flowers are a nice design, but maybe a little unnecessary, since that way the tan is only at the bottoms of all those whitewash sections, and it ends up looking a little awkward. Still a great moc... and although other people are saying all the 1x1 tiles in the stonework don't work too well and should be replaced with 1x2 tiles, I have to say that is isn't that bad. If you were to replace them, I would leave a few... ;)

Thanks Cab. And I agree about the tan - I wish I had noticed that. I do like the flowers though - they add some much needed detail rather than just texture - and there's actually a bit of tan in other places as well.

Quoting Kai Bernstein
I get what you mean (in response to Infy) about the 1x1 tiles, but 1x2s would actually reduce the overtextured effect while still blending well, which in this case would be beneficial - there's currently overtextured stonework next to hardly eroded whitewash, floor, etc. (Not saying the texturing looks bad by to all that - quite the contrary - but it would be more realistic. :P)

Quoting Kai Bernstein
Nice job, Gilbert. (...ohwait.) Aside from that, great work! :P The texturing is very nice, though some 1x2s would make it look better. The flags/shields are a nice touch; I've always liked the blue-by-brown color scheme. I also love the color scheme/distribution of the (literal) tile floor. The spiral staircase is pretty neat, if standard, and your improvised arches are pretty clever...I may have to try that sometime. :P I don't, however, think the SNoTed and studs-out whitewash sections of the upper level work here; first of all it's just so much like the Black Knight Tavern's design, but it also just doesn't quite fit. Most everything else is studs-up or to one side, and the fat tan lines and texture differences caused by the change of direction just doesn't mix very well. Another thing is, honestly, the dragon mosaic. Was that necessary? Maybe you wanted to outdo Gilbert or perhaps you just loved the idea of that design, but...it's too much like Gilbert's moc. :P The NPU table and cheese rug are nice; they may have been recycled, but they're still cool. NOW, all that said...it's a great moc! I love the texturing, layout, colors and those flowers on the second level. Nice work! :P

Believe me, I tried to find something else for the dragon...but I couldn't find anything better and I needed something in front of the door. Thanks.

Since everyone is already giving you all sorts of nitpicky comments with the tiniest mistakes and tips for improvements, I thought I might mention something...
http://www.mocpages.com/image_zoom.php?mocid=384325&id=/user_images/84200/1395611228m
In this picture, right under the white flowers in the wall, you can see a tan 2x2 corner plate in the whitewash oriented the same way in three different sections. :P I just think that having at least one of them (I'd suggest the middle one) oriented differently would break it up a bit. I also think the flowers are a nice design, but maybe a little unnecessary, since that way the tan is only at the bottoms of all those whitewash sections, and it ends up looking a little awkward. Still a great moc... and although other people are saying all the 1x1 tiles in the stonework don't work too well and should be replaced with 1x2 tiles, I have to say that is isn't that bad. If you were to replace them, I would leave a few... ;)

I get what you mean (in response to Infy) about the 1x1 tiles, but 1x2s would actually reduce the overtextured effect while still blending well, which in this case would be beneficial - there's currently overtextured stonework next to hardly eroded whitewash, floor, etc. (Not saying the texturing looks bad by to all that - quite the contrary - but it would be more realistic. :P)

Nice job, Gilbert. (...ohwait.) Aside from that, great work! :P The texturing is very nice, though some 1x2s would make it look better. The flags/shields are a nice touch; I've always liked the blue-by-brown color scheme. I also love the color scheme/distribution of the (literal) tile floor. The spiral staircase is pretty neat, if standard, and your improvised arches are pretty clever...I may have to try that sometime. :P I don't, however, think the SNoTed and studs-out whitewash sections of the upper level work here; first of all it's just so much like the Black Knight Tavern's design, but it also just doesn't quite fit. Most everything else is studs-up or to one side, and the fat tan lines and texture differences caused by the change of direction just doesn't mix very well. Another thing is, honestly, the dragon mosaic. Was that necessary? Maybe you wanted to outdo Gilbert or perhaps you just loved the idea of that design, but...it's too much like Gilbert's moc. :P The NPU table and cheese rug are nice; they may have been recycled, but they're still cool. NOW, all that said...it's a great moc! I love the texturing, layout, colors and those flowers on the second level. Nice work! :P

Quoting Halhi 141
Ah, typos. And yes, be sure to give me credit - I'd also like credit when you happen to throw together any 3 brick in the same pattern that I ever have as well. :P And the reason I used it? I have no brown 2x2 round tiles, I ran out of other brown tiles, and I wanted a 2x2 structure of this height. I couldn't really find a better design...

That's more or less why I used them - but I'm lazy. I expected better of you! (Just kidding)

Quoting Gilbert Despathens
I was talking about the three-piece design with changed colors that I also used on my tavern build. I'm not asking for credit, I just think it was interesting that you used that technique when I didn't much like it the first time. Oh, and I'm having fun causing chaos as usual, that's why I really mentioned it.
Hm, come to think of it, that stool looks much better with the color change. Congratulations, it is now the Halhi 141 brown stool! I'll be sure to cite my source when I use the design in my next MOC (which isn't even an appropriate setting for a stool, but who cares?).

Ah, typos. And yes, be sure to give me credit - I'd also like credit when you happen to throw together any 3 brick in the same pattern that I ever have as well. :P
And the reason I used it? I have no brown 2x2 round tiles, I ran out of other brown tiles, and I wanted a 2x2 structure of this height. I couldn't really find a better design...

Quoting Gilbert Despathens Oh, and those stools, too - I've seen them before.

Ah yes, a five piece design with some changed colors is definitely copying. Hold on a minute, I need to go credit someone for the place where I stacked a few 1x4 bricks in the same way as someone else did back in 1972.

I was talking about the three-piece design with changed colors that I also used on my tavern build. I'm not asking for credit, I just think it was interesting that you used that technique when I didn't much like it the first time. Oh, and I'm having fun causing chaos as usual, that's why I really mentioned it.
Hm, come to think of it, that stool looks much better with the color change. Congratulations, it is now the Halhi 141 brown stool! I'll be sure to cite my source when I use the design in my next MOC (which isn't even an appropriate setting for a stool, but who cares?).

Quoting Toa Infernum
Sweet interior! I love the "feel" the MOC has! I wish the stairs had supports that were touching though, and I REALLY dislike the 1x1 tiles in the wall, could you switch them to 1x2s? Great work! :)

Thanks Infy. Yeah, I'm not quite sold on the stairs either...but I chose this design because it conserves space and pieces. As to the 1x1 tiles, I thought 1x2 would look strange in this setting since it's next to all the detail heavy bits - but you're probably right.

Quoting Gilbert Despathens
Oh, and those stools, too - I've seen them before.

Ah yes, a five piece design with some changed colors is definitely copying. Hold on a minute, I need to go credit someone for the place where I stacked a few 1x4 bricks in the same way as someone else did back in 1972.

Quoting Gilbert Despathens
Wow. These past two times you've made a MOC, I have been struck with this strange sense of deja vu. It's eerie, man. I could swear I've seen this inn before, with its whitewashed upper floor and the balcony and the stone lower floor and the SNOT table and the cheese dragon and those windows... but it couldn't be, because the other inn I've seen recently used SNOT panels for its walls. Nice work, though - it's a step above the last one.

Well, it's not like none of those have never been done before, and I tried to change up the layout and feel of the build as much as I can - but you're right, it was very much inspired by your build.

Wow. These past two times you've made a MOC, I have been struck with this strange sense of deja vu. It's eerie, man. I could swear I've seen this inn before, with its whitewashed upper floor and the balcony and the stone lower floor and the SNOT table and the cheese dragon and those windows... but it couldn't be, because the other inn I've seen recently used SNOT panels for its walls. Nice work, though - it's a step above the last one.